To be honest, so much of my free time goes into working on this, playing other fetish games in what little gaming time I have is pretty much the last thing on my mind 
And without giving too much away, there may be a little more in the way of interaction between yourself and certain of the other contacts at some point…
So what you’re saying is that all of your time is being spent on Alice, eh? :3
If it’s any consolation she leaves me spent too <w<
…Maybe asking would be easier than decompiling.
I’m pretty sure galleries are standard in a lot of these games, so you can probably find a finished script on the net somewhere that just needs you to add your own images and conditions. My own take on programming is Lazy. I always just built on top of something else, delete what I don’t need and then add what I need. If someone else has already made something I need (and made it available for public use) copy/paste and fit it in.
That said I don’t really think a gallery is that important to a visual novel. The events and interactions are usually the fun part. I’ve personally never spent more that a couple of minutes looking through a game gallery.
@AlexKay All my time is spent on whichever character I’m currently writing for. Don’t want to show favouritism!
It’s currently a new scene for Hannah. Sue me, Hannah haters
@burber it should be relatively easy to knock up a nested menu allowing viewing of all the various images. To be honest, I agree that a gallery doesn’t add much. Like you, I’ve never really bothered with them. But, a lot of people have requested one, so I’ll almost certainly add this at some point.
Personally I’d rather see you crank out as much awesome content as possible. Making a gallery unless you already know how almost seems like a waste of time. People could always decrypt your game and rip the raw images if they wanted. But it’s the synergy of writing/choicemaking/art all combining into one that completes the illusion of the fantasy.
Just looking at a rip of all the images would lose all it’s magic, imo. That said, I guess maybe it is easy, and if it’s easy you might as well do it?
Yeah, the images are nice, but the writing is what really sells everything.
it’s just one of those things where maybe I’m being a completionist where I want to see what I missed
The gallery will only come once the game is more or less finished. I know of at least a couple of people who have already ripped the images from the game, so I may also just put out a complete folder of all the ingame images at some point.
I spent the past week or so playing through version 0.6, and oh my what a fantastic game. It was a ton of fun to play. I pretty much spent all weekend playing through non-stop and was able to play through to the different endings. Then I went through and stepped through the source code (I’m a software engineer by trade) because I was curious. I enjoyed the game so much I figured I would leave some thoughts on it.
Overall: Finding a balance between being a visual novel and an interactive game is really hard. I’ve found that most games either end up being pretty much just a story (where you give an occasional choice) or completely open ended. This game hits the sweet spot for me in having a guided enough story where I actually feel like there is good progression and a dedicated story, but still giving you enough say in the choices you make to make it feel like you still have an impact on what happens in the story. Combine that with the fact that the character images feel so real (I much prefer these images to the anime style for immersion), and it is a winning combination for me.
Choices: I love that the choices I make have an impact on the dialogue and differences in little scenes and what happens. It keeps me immersed as we go through, actually caring about what choices I make, and keeps me from skipping through scenes as I want to see if there is any new dialogue. The variables you use make your decision on how to make seemingly basic choices throughout the game make sense, and I really enjoy that. And my favorite moment came at the split to the two different endings. I am not a person who saves the game often. I have exactly one intermediate save in the game I made as I was playing through. And it came right during the scene where your choice splits you onto one of two paths. Going through the story this felt like such an impactful scene, so I love that story wise this actually turned out to be true. Not to mention that I LOVE the secondary character in this scene, which makes it even better.
Pacing: I think the pacing generally works for the game. I got to the current ending in 200 days, which felt pretty reasonable given how quickly a day goes through in the game. The fact that the dialogue changes and the actual eating habits change even as nothing “major” happens helps the pacing. That said, it can definitely get slow at times. Especially in the last weight stage, I found myself skipping through some scenes pretty quickly as things go fairly monotonous. I don’t think it was terrible by any means, and I obviously still made it to the end. But I think a few more fun little add-ons (like the office chair) would go a ways here. Perhaps that or either a little bit more of the existing secondary characters or another secondary character to keep things interesting.
Locations: I found pretty much all of the locations pretty interesting and useful playing through the game. I went through all of them regularly as I enjoyed them. Quick thoughts on them:
Work: Can be monotonous at times, but Becca definitely helps liven it up and keep it interesting. By the end it feels pretty repetitive in going to work and feeding Becca donuts though.
Park: It is fun to see the progression in asking Alice to go running here (with and without Sarah). These make for some pretty entertaining scenes. I also enjoy the progression when it rains and you go walking. A good scene all around for me. Enjoyed the showing off the belly. And ultimately worth it just for the Becca scenes and teasing.
Pub: I never found any real reason to go there normally except for knowing that Lacy was there, but going with Alice is fun to see some of her comments as she packs away more and more.
Alice Work: Not a ton here yet, but it felt like a fun change of pace, there was enough variety to keep it fresh (loved the scene of her showing off her belly), and it seems like there is a ton of room for potential here going forward.
Gym: This was a really fun progression early in the game as you see Alice’s fitness decline. Later in the game it lost some of the fun as Alice got really big. I kept doing fitness, but it would have been nice to see it affect you more given your fat girlfriend.
Ice Cream: Fun to see the interactions between Alice and Sarah here. I would have loved to see some real pig out session with a huge sundae.
Pizza: Fantastic scenes, loved the difference between all you can eat and not. Would love to see a potentially embarrassing moment here (with the pig out all you can eat and unbuttoning jeans)
Burger: It was fun seeing the comments on her different outfits. Not a whole lot here overall, would have loved to see more variety in the orders.
Beach: Love seeing Alice in a bikini, love how her greed plays out here throughout the game. I think the potential is here for some really fun scenes as Alice gets bigger (ordering tons of food, what people think of her in a bikini, etc)
Picnic: These were fun seeing her gradually slow down to catch you and eat more doughnuts. The swing was a fun touch.
Bowling: Similarly to the swing, getting the shoes on here was a fun touch. I really enjoyed the scenes after bowling with the cake.
Cinema: Mostly useful to see how much chocolate Alice could devour. The popcorn was fun.
Fancy Dinner: A fun change of pace from normal eating. Loved seeing her orders evolve and the stuck chair. There is potential here with the taxi afterwards.
Eating at home: These were fun with the scale weigh ins and seeing Alice gradually put away way more at dinner. Also useful for chocolate consumption. I enjoyed the additional option of beer late on.
Characters: Ultimately the characters are what make or break a game. They definitely make the game here. Each of the characters had their own unique personalities (as well as looks, obviously!) that helped to make them worth following.
Alice: Obviously the main character, her progression throughout the game is really well done. I love how she gradually comes to accept and then enjoy and then love feederism and being greedy. This progression feels very natural and makes for very enticing storytelling. While I love the current late stage Alice, it wouldn’t have felt very fun to have just started there. So the working to get there feels rewarding and authentic. And personality wise, she just comes across really well (even though I don’t really have the words to describe why or how).
Lacy: She has the potential to be a very interesting character, but she hasn’t really been fleshed out yet. I think there is a bunch of potential for where she goes from here given the storytelling that has already been set up, but the character in the current version felt a little bit placeholder-y. I think a little more interaction with here in the cafe might have helped here (similarly to how Becca has work and the park or Sarah has a number of different places you can encounter her).
Sarah: Sarah makes for an interesting contrast to Alice. Seeing her gradually lose her will to diet as Alice balloons was interesting character development. Her interactions with Alice are some of the most fun scenes as they are very playful. I love the teasing the two do. I’ll be interested to see if there is any further character development here, as it almost seems like she has mostly run her course in the story line. My only real complaint here is that her imaging feels a little off, especially early in the game. She is SO pear shaped that her upper body looks way to stick like for how fat she is in certain shots.
Hannah: I know a number of people don’t like Hannah, but I think Hannah is an awesome character. She has that sass, flair, and grab what you want mentality that is extremely intriguing. I think she adds a much needed personality into the game. It honestly keeps me a little on the edge of my seat when she pops up, which is frankly EXACTLY what I think you want playing the game. I think she is going to make for some very great scenes in future releases. I think my only sad part is that currently none of your decisions with Hannah impact the gameplay at all. I guess outside of opting out of her story line, but honestly that one felt a little awkwardly placed for me (given all the times she came on to you, it felt like it would have been more natural to make one of them a “reject her advances once and for all” to end it). But who would want to opt out of more Hannah?
Janet: I’m not really sure what to think of Janet, partly because I’m not sure how I feel about pregnancy in all of this. I think she pulls the sister act really well (especially in the one ending), and I think the dynamic is really good between her and Alice. But I’m not sure how I feel about her weight gain at present, which may sort itself out nicely or may not. And I would have loved to have gotten more details about her pregnancy, which just kind of popped up. It seems like there is more to that story…
Becca: Finally saving the best for last. Becca is absolutely my favorite character by a country mile. Her character is extremely relatable. The drunken vulnerability/bad decisions. The sexy teasing a taken friend/coworker. Stressed out eating at work. All of it. Her character is an extremely attractive one for me, which especially helps here. Ultimately, I loved every scene with Becca (even the little office scenes). She does the perfect amount of teasing, is the perfect amount of vulnerable. I really wanted to see more of her (and would definitely make bad decisions with her as the main character in a way I wouldn’t with Hannah). She was a part of my favorite scene (the one which causes the split into two different paths). And her ending is a fantastic one, both because I love it and having her involved with me as the main character and because it left a great cliffhanger for the next release.
Ultimately, this is a truly fantastic game (honestly ways better than anything else I’ve seen on this
site), and I was super happy to sign up for it on Patreon. I’ll be eagerly awaiting the next release. I know I ended up writing a freaking essay, but hopefully some of this is helpful feedback.
One thing I “noticed”. I assume since you looked at the code you noticed it too. The phrasing of many different lines throughout the game change based on if the MC is “nice” or a “jerk”. Halfway through the game if you’re a maximum jerk you can get a gameover. But in the second half of the game alice is no longer mad at you for teasing her, so many of the options that gave jerk points don’t give jerk points anymore.
I wonder if this ends up meaning there is phrasing for dialogue towards the end of the game where it would only be displayed if the MC was a jerk, but there’s literally no way (other than hacking/cheating) for the MC to have enough jerk points at this point in the plot?
I think at that point there is no being a jerk per say, because whether you tease her or compliment her she is going to like it either way. I would envision being a jerk at this point would be more of a one time thing (say doing something with one of the other girls that Alice wouldn’t approve of), rather than individual little actions. That said, I could certainly see this building depending on the future story line (if, for example, you continued to flirt with one of the other girls when Alice was around).
Personally, I think it would be interesting if Alice could be turned into either a feedee who loved being teased or one who loved being complimented. I think that would fit better into the second half of the game (at least right now) than being a jerk would, as there aren’t really many jerk things you can do at this point.
I’m perfectly fine with the arc of alice learning to like being teased and the whole jerk points thing being phased out.
I’m just curious if tiggertoo actually wrote jerk lines for after the midpoint of the game, and they’re not being used.
If they weren’t written, I don’t think they need to be written, it makes sense with the arc of the plot that alice starts to embrace being teased and the whole jerk points mechanic gets phased out entirely. It’s just that since you cannot see your niceness score, I’m never sure if I’ve seen 100% of the jerk dialogue lines in my save files or not.
Ah that I can’t tell you. I’m generally not a must see 100% of lines type person. I played through both endings and try to make sure I go to all of the locations periodically to see what is happening there, but that is about as far as I go. The way the code is structured also makes it quite difficult to see at a glance what all of the lines are for particular locations, so it would take me longer than I really want to spend to step through all of the code there to find out in a project I’m not developing.
@jcc309 Wow, that’s quite a lengthy critique! But genuine feedback is always useful, whether good or bad. And I’m glad you liked most of the game so much.
The pacing is deliberately slow - as I’ve said all along, I want to avoid the ‘girl eats piece of cake and instantly balloons’ type of game, which means that it is a bit repetitive in places. That’s unavoidable, I’m afraid. I’m only one person and whilst I’d love to add more variety to the scenes, I’d simply never get the game finished. I’m not sure if you played 0.5, but 0.6 was solely about adding more variation to the existing game and it took me five months. Way too long! That said, everything is work in progress and I may well add the odd bit here and there to the existing scenes if I have the time.
Oh, and I know the code structure isn’t great. Can you tell I’ve been picking up Ren’py as I go along?
@namad there were originally a few ‘jerk’ lines for the (current) latter stages of the game, but I took them out as they simply never get triggered. Not much point in having lines of text about Alice getting upset about being told how huge she is if she enjoys hearing that kind of thing.
Once I got started I figured I might as well go all of the way with the critique! No point in stopping half way and all that.
I actually don’t really mind the pacing so much as the repetitiveness, honestly. I actually think the amount of time and activities it takes Alice to gain weight feels just right. There are just some scenes I end up seeing so much of with the same dialogue that I end up wanting to skip through a little at times. Most of that is just my sadness at whenever Becca pops up and I’ve already seen the same dialogue because I need more Becca.
I never got the chance to play 0.5 (I went straight from 0.2 to 0.6), but the variation from 0.2 to 0.6 is night and day and helps so much. And from a coding perspective adding the extra scenes isn’t too bad, but I’m sure the actual visuals of those scenes can take a long time! So I totally understand where you are coming from.
Having been there, done that when learning another coding language/framework, I can tell you I recognize the patterns completely! But you’ve done a really good job with it for picking it up as you go!
Yeah, the visuals do take some time… Each ice cream parlour image takes around 6 hours to render because of the background!
The repetition is inevitable. I already put a minimum of 100 hours a month into this. I simply don’t have any more time to add all the things that I’d like to include.
6 hours?! That’s insane. No wonder it takes so long.
That’s totally understandable. 100 hours is a ton already, I’m super thankful for the time you put in. And I am not the one doing the development work, it isn’t really my place anyways. Besides, I think there is enough variety at this point that it doesn’t take away from my enjoyment of the game (if you can’t tell by the fact I played all the way through to the end for both endings). It’s a little bit like grinding in Pokemon, something that you have to do but just is what it is and isn’t really an issue in reasonable quantities. I’m much more curious at this point to see where the story line goes from here than to see the existing stuff fleshed out.
Yep. And when you factor in that a LOT of the images for Sarah initially came out like…
… and had to be redone at least once, the ice cream parlour scene alone took the best part of a month
Now that is a uniform I can get behind! But my god, if that one scene took a month I’m impressed you can churn out content as quickly as you can.
If you are still seeing success, you may want to consider investing in (if you haven’t already) a dedicated machine or 2 just to render out your projects so you still have time to create/edit without your machine being bogged down. Some applications also let you create render farms that utilize lesser computers but a larger array of them to render quicker.
just a thought
